Update 7/22/2020: We have updated our Go Live technology so that you can now simultaneously screen share and video chat in DMs and not just within a server.
In addition to being a voice & text chat app, Discord can offer you and your closest friends an equally awesome video and screen sharing experience.
Instead of having to jump all over the place to switch from one to the other, they're available simultaneously anytime you have a video call enabled! Before we dive in, let's get everything all setup and ready to go.
What does this article cover?
- Setting up your Video and Voice Settings
- Starting a Call
- Enabling Video and Screenshare
- Advanced In-App Call Options
- View Modes Types - Grid and Focus Mode
- Window Modes - Pop Out and Full Screen
- Sound Hook/Sound Share
Setting Up!
Before you start your call, you can check on your video settings by clicking on the cog icon in the bottom left hand corner to head into your User Settings page!
You'll then find a handy "Voice & Video" tab, where you can adjust your settings for voice and video chat.
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As long as you have a video device available, you'll be able to select it from the camera options dropdown:
To double check you video before starting a call, you can click the handy "Test Video" button to make sure everything's shipshape and your hair is done just right before making first contact with your friends.
Note: For browser app users, you may need to enable camera access in your browser in order to use the device successfully. Click the "Allow" button in the permissions pop-up, and you'll be good to go here.
Starting a Call
Now that we're camera-ready and ready to go, the next step is to start a call and chat. You can start a call directly in a DM or in a server (as long as you have the permissions to do so)!
In a DM, you can press the video icon in the top header to directly start a Video Call!
If you want to only hang out in voice and screen share, or you don’t feel like sharing your video immediately, you can click on the phone icon to start off in a Voice call!
If you’re in a Server:
- For more information on how to start a video call and/or screen share in a server, check out this Server Video article and this Sharing your Screen with Go Live article!
Enabling Video and Screenshare
Now that we're here- there's a few different bits and pieces to maneuver through to get the most out of our face-to-face conversation stuff. Let's break it down:
Video
To start sharing your video in a call, press the Turn on Camera button in the call panel!
And whenever you want to end your video stream, you can press the camera button once more to Turn off Camera!
Screenshare
To start sharing your screen, start by pressing the Share Your Screen button in the call panel!
A menu will then pop up where you can select an individual application window to share (in the Applications option), or you can choose to share your entire screen (by clicking on the Screens option).
Once you've decided which screen to share, press the Go Live button to confirm and start sharing!
If you change your mind on which screen you'd like the share or would like to end the stream, you can directly switch the screen that is being shared while streaming by pressing the 
(arrow) icon by the Share your Screen menu button!
Advanced In-Call Options
By pressing on the (arrow) icon by each of the call panel menu buttons, you’ll be able to switch:
- What camera you’re using
- Your stream quality and what screen you’re sharing
- Your voice and audio settings
In-call Screenshare Options
You’ll be able to directly modify your Stream Quality including changing your stream’s frame rate and resolution directly within the call!
If you want to swap from one app window to another, you’ll be able to easily swap by selecting the “Change Window” option!
You can then easily end the stream by selecting “Stop Streaming” when you're done!
In-call Voice and Audio Settings
If you’ve forgotten to change up your mic or headset before the call, this new menu will help you modify settings on the fly!
You’ll now be able to:
- Change your input and output device directly in the call
- Head into your Voice Settings and then immediately head back into the call once you’re done switching things up!
View Modes
Grid View -
- All video calls will start in this view! This is the perfect view to see all the videos/screenshares within your chat at once!
Focus View -
- If you’d like to focus on one specific person, you can then use this view to make their screen the center of attention! The focused screen will show as the largest screen while everyone else’s screen will show up on a smaller screens on the right side.
- Want to make that focused view even larger?
- You can also hide the streams of the other Members (by pressing on the
Hide Members button within the focused stream) while in the Focus View to only show the main screen you’re focusing on! That way, you won’t get distracted by anyone else’s screen! - Want to change which screen you want to focus on?
- To switch which screen you’d like to focus on, you can press the
Show Members button to show all the smaller streams once more and then click directly on the other person’s screen!
Window Modes
Pop Out View -
- To have the video chat all appear in a separate window, press the Pop Out View button to be able to move that window anywhere on your screen!
- If you want to pin the Pop Out window so that it stays above all other windows, you can use the Stay On Top button. To unpin the window, use the Remove from Top button.
Full Screen View -
- Last but not least, press that Full Screen button if you want to maximize the video size on your screen!
Sound Hook/Sound Share
Note: This feature is currently only available on the Windows desktop client! It is not available on macOS, the browser, or mobile client!
AND....you can also share your audio while you screenshare!
When you share a specific window only, you'll need to toggle the Sound Toggle for the sound share feature to work! (If you don't see the toggle, the feature isn't available for that application!)
If you're having some issues sharing your favorite tunes with your friends, try the following steps:
- Double check your Antivirus (AV) programs just in case your AV has flagged our app! If Discord isn't flagged in your AV program, try temporarily disabling the AV completely and see if that helps!
- Test out your audio settings and try some general troubleshooting following the steps here!
- Reinstall the app completely using the nifty tips in this article!
Need Support?
If you have any follow-up questions or are running into any issues, send a ticket to our support team at https://dis.gd/contact with all the following information so we can help investigate what's going on!
- A clear description of your issue
- The OS and OS version you're using (ex: Windows 10)
- Which clients is this issue occurring on (ex: browser, mobile and/or desktop)?
- Screenshots of all your Voice & Video settings
- A list of input and output devices you’re using
- What apps you're trying to screenshare/soundshare with
- A copy of your debug log
- You can find this option when you scroll down in your Voice & Video settings
